Military Homeschool Nebraska: Offutt AFB and Bellevue Rule 13 Guide

You landed orders to Offutt AFB. You've moved from a state where homeschooling meant doing nothing — or close to nothing — and now you're staring at Nebraska's Rule 13 exemption system trying to figure out what you actually have to do and how fast you have to do it.

Here's the short answer: Nebraska is more administratively involved than Texas, Arizona, or Florida, but less than you probably fear. The state doesn't inspect your curriculum, doesn't require standardized testing, and doesn't send anyone to your house. What it does require is a specific registration process — and getting that right from day one prevents the problems that derail military homeschool transitions.

How Nebraska Homeschooling Actually Works

Nebraska does not use the term "umbrella school" or "homeschool" in its statutes. The legal mechanism is called an exempt school — your family establishes a private, non-approved school under Nebraska Revised Statutes §79-1601. You are, in the eyes of the law, the administrator of a private school that has elected not to meet state accreditation requirements.

This sounds formal, but in practice it means:

• You file two forms (Form A and Form B) with the Nebraska Department of Education each year
• You submit one certified birth certificate per child, one time, when you first register
• You must provide 1,032 instructional hours per year for grades K-8, or 1,080 hours for grades 9-12
• You track those hours internally — the state does not collect logs or require submission
• You choose your own curriculum; the state has not required curriculum reporting since April 2024 (LB 1027)

That's essentially the full compliance requirement. No portfolio submission, no annual assessment, no home visit.

The July 15 Deadline (And the Military Exception)

For families who are already in Nebraska and planning their school year from the start, Rule 13 paperwork is due to the NDE by July 15 annually. Miss that deadline and your child's absence from public school at the start of the fall semester creates immediate truancy exposure.

But military families arriving after July 15 — which describes a large percentage of Offutt PCS moves — are explicitly accommodated. Rule 13 states that families must file "promptly" upon establishing Nebraska residence. There is no penalty for arriving in September or October and filing promptly after settling in. The key word is promptly: don't let it sit for three weeks while you're unpacking. File as soon as you have a Nebraska address.

If your child is currently enrolled in their previous school and you're mid-PCS, coordinate the timing carefully. The day your child stops attending that school (or the day you establish Nebraska residence, if they've been out of school during the move), your filing clock starts.

Bellevue and the Offutt Community

The Bellevue area — the city immediately adjacent to Offutt AFB — has a well-established military homeschool community precisely because this situation repeats itself constantly. The 55th Wing at Offutt brings thousands of families through on multi-year rotations, and a significant portion of them homeschool either by preference or necessity.

Offutt maintains dedicated School Liaison Officers within the 55th Force Support Squadron. Their primary role is to help inbound military families navigate school enrollment, but they also have familiarity with the Rule 13 exempt school process and can connect you with active military homeschool networks in the Bellevue area. Contact the School Liaison's office as one of your first stops when you arrive — even if you're planning to homeschool, they're a useful resource for understanding the local landscape.

The Bellevue homeschool community includes several co-ops that actively recruit military families because those families cycle in and out predictably and bring diverse skill sets. If you have a specialty — aviation, meteorology, cybersecurity, foreign language — you'll find co-ops happy to have you teach a session in exchange for access to group activities.

EFMP Families: What Homeschooling Means for Your Special Needs Child

If your child is enrolled in the Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP), the decision to homeschool in Nebraska is more complex. EFMP ensures that your PCS assignment accounts for your child's medical and educational needs — but that coordination happens at the DoD level, not the school level.

When you withdraw to a Rule 13 exempt school, your child is no longer enrolled in the public school system that coordinates with EFMP for educational support. The district still has equitable service obligations under federal special education law (see IEP considerations below), but the seamless coordination that EFMP is supposed to provide through public school channels gets disrupted.

Many Offutt EFMP families have chosen to homeschool after discovering that the wait times for specialized services in the Bellevue School District or Papillion-La Vista School District exceeded what they could tolerate. Homeschooling gave them immediate control over their child's daily environment while they navigated the slower process of establishing services through the district's equitable services process or through private providers.

If your child has an active IEP, the resident school district (wherever you establish residence in Nebraska) is legally obligated to convene a services plan meeting to determine what equitable services they'll provide, even to a homeschooled child. Request that meeting in writing as soon as you've filed your Rule 13 paperwork.

The Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children (MIC3)

Nebraska is a member of MIC3, the compact that smooths public school transitions for military children. MIC3 provisions handle things like accepting out-of-state records, waiving certain enrollment requirements, and allowing military kids to participate in activities even if they don't meet all local eligibility rules.

MIC3 applies to public school enrollment. If you're homeschooling, the compact is not directly relevant to your Rule 13 filing. However, it's useful to know about if you're deciding whether to enroll in Bellevue Public Schools or Papillion-La Vista temporarily while you sort out your homeschool setup, or if you transition back to public school mid-year.

What You Actually Need to File

When you're ready to register as an exempt school, you'll need:

1. Form A (Statement of Election and Assurances) — formalizes your election not to meet state accreditation requirements. One parent or legal guardian signature is sufficient; the previous requirement for both parents to sign was eliminated by LB 1027 in 2024.
2. Form B (Authorized Parent Representative Form) — designates you as the primary contact with the NDE and establishes your school's dates of operation.
3. Certified birth certificate — one per child, required once at initial enrollment.

All three go to the Nebraska Department of Education's Exempt School Program office. The NDE then notifies your resident school district of the exempt status, which terminates the district's authority to track your child's attendance.

Do not enroll in the local public school and then try to file Rule 13 simultaneously. Establish the exempt school first (or at the same time as withdrawing), so there's no gap during which your child is expected to attend public school.

Getting the Withdrawal Right

If your child was attending Bellevue Public Schools, Papillion-La Vista, or Millard Public Schools and you're withdrawing mid-year, send a formal withdrawal letter to the principal and superintendent via certified mail on the day of withdrawal. This letter — which should state clearly that your child is enrolling in a private exempt school under NRS §79-1601 — immediately stops the district's attendance tracking obligation.

The Nebraska Legal Withdrawal Blueprint includes a ready-made withdrawal letter template and walks through the complete Rule 13 filing sequence, including the timing steps for mid-year PCS situations. For military families who don't have time to decode a 40-page NDE FAQ, it's the fastest way to confirm you're doing it correctly.

Staying Compliant Through Your Rotation

One thing military families often forget: Rule 13 is an annual filing. You must re-file Form A and Form B by July 15 every year you're homeschooling in Nebraska. If you arrived late in your first year and filed promptly in October, note that your renewal is still due by the following July 15.

If you receive orders and PCS out of Nebraska mid-year, you don't need to formally close your exempt school — Nebraska doesn't require a termination filing. Simply stop filing when you establish residence in your new duty station state and follow that state's procedures.

Nebraska's system is manageable once you understand the structure. The initial confusion almost always comes from comparing it to another state's rules or from online resources that were written before the 2024 LB 1027 changes. Get the current paperwork, file promptly, track your hours, and the rest of the year is yours to manage however works best for your family.

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